Improvement in refrigerators



Patented July 24, 1877. R

N. PEI'ERS, PHOTO-UfHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. C.

' ZSheets-Sheet2- GI Fl REFRIGERATOR.

Patented July 24,1877.

//////A Kv I'////////M i; liW//////////////////////////% mmmmmmm N,PETERS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON D c.

GEORGE F. SMITH, OF MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFRIGERATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 193,568, dated July 24,1877; application filed April 17, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE F. SMITH, ofMichigan City, in the county of La Porte and State of Indiana, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Refrigerators; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full and exact description of the same,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon.

My invention relates to that class of refrigerators wherein a constantcirculation of air is maintained through the ice-box andprovision-chambers; and its object is to increase the circulation,reduce the air to a lower temperature than heretofore, and to deliversuch air into the provision-chambers free from moisture, preventing thesides of the said provision-chambers from sweating, and betterpreserving the articles placed therein.

My invention therein consists in the combination, construction, andarrangement of the parts for effecting the circulation of the air, asfully hereinafter explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to manufacture my refrigerator, 1proceed to describe the same, having reference to the drawings, in whichFigure l is a perspective view of the refrigerator with the cover thrownopen; Fig. 2, a central vertical section of the same with the coverclosed; and Fig. 3, a plan view of the refrigerator, the top beingremoved.

Like letters denote corresponding parts in each figure.

A represents the body of the refrigerator, which is constructed withdouble walls, the space between these walls being filled with somenon-conducting material, as shown.

B is the cover to the ice-box, and O 0 doors opening into theprovision-chambers. In the top of the refrigerator is situated theice-box D, which is separated from the provisionchambers E E below it bya horizontal partition, D. Both the ice-box and the provision-chambersare lined with zinc in the usual manner. At the ends of the ice-box arethin vertical partitions a a, supported a short distance from the wallsof the refrigerator, so as to form between them and such wallsairpassages F F, which lead from the tops of the provision-chambers, andopen into the recesses b b in the walls of the refrigerator, as shown inFigs. 1 and 3.

The provision-chambers E E are provided with any suitable numberofracks, (not shown,) and are separated from each other by a centralpartition, G, running from the front to the rear of the refrigerator.This partition does not rise quite to the horizontal partition D, but anopen space, 0, is left at the top of the same, which connects the twoprovisionchambers. Above this space, in the horizontal partition D, isout an opening, d, and around the edge of this opening the lining of theice-box is turned up, as shown at d, to prevent the waste water fromrunning through the same. H is the waste-pipe, extending from the bottomof the ice-box down through the partition G, and out at the bottom ofthe refrigerator. 1 is a false bottom, made of wood, and supported abovethe floor of the ice-box by two or more longitudinal strips. This bottomis covered by a sheet of zinc, and has cut through it, near its ends,two openings, e e, forming under such bottom an airpassage, f, leadingto the central opening d.

To the under side of the cover B is attached a shallow air-box, K, whichhangs down into the ice-box, and is covered with zinc. This box is openat the ends the width of the recesses b b, and has strips 9 9, Figs. 1and 2,

opening, and through such opening into thev provision -chambers. Thewarm air in the provision-chambers is displaced by the cold air, andmakes its exit at the sides through the passages F 1}. From them itenters the air-box K, andis discharged through the opening h into thecenter of the ice-box. A constant circulation is thus maintained. Theair, being taken from near the sides of the ice-box and dischargedcentrally into the provision- Orrro.

chambers, passes out at the sides of the pro-i vision-chambers, andagain enters theice-box directly'over the ice contained therein.

By circulating the air in the manner and by the means described, a moreconstantcir culation is maintained, and the warm air, being dischargeddirectly upon the :ice, jis re-- duced to a lower temperature thanheretofore.

The ice resting centrally upon the false bottom, the circulating air isthrown into contact with the metal covering of the air-box K, andagainst the sides of the ice-box, and the moisture in the same iscondensed mostlyibeforeit passes through the openings in the falsebot-.1 tom. Then, passing along the channel f, the moisture 'in the airis further condensed upon the metal bottom of the ice-box, and entersthe provision -chambers comparatively, dry, .thus

preventing the sweating of such-provisionchambers, and betterpreserving;the articles contained therein.

The water caused by this condensation and by.;the melting of the icerunsintothebottom of the ice-box and is carried off by the--waste-waterpipe H, 'it being preventing frompassing-through theopening-d by its upturned edge d.

Having-thus fully described my refrigerator, and explained some of itsadvantages,

'iwhatsliclarim aszmy invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-- In a refrigerator, the combination, with the two provision-chambersE E and the single ice-box D, provided with opening d, and situatedabove such provision-chambers, and extendin g ,the; entire, width. ofthe: refrigerator, of theside flues F F, air-box K, having opening h,and the false bottom I, having the side openings e c, all constructedand arranged

